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12×12 Scrapbook Pages

It’s been five years since I began selling retail products at crops and events around the state of Michigan.

It’s been five years of fun — I love getting in new product, setting up displays, making samples and meeting people who share my passion. I’ve even made a few friends along the way.

It’s been five years of bringing you products you cannot get in the big box stores — and some you cannot buy in specialty stores.

But, that time has come to an end. After months of debating back and forth, I’ve decided to officially close the retail side of my business. Candy Scraps will still exist, but it will be used exclusively for teaching, both online through my blog and YouTube and in person at stores and events around the state.

This decision was not made lightly, but there are several reasons for the closure.

I began after independent stores closed because I wanted those customers to still have access to the products big box stores do not carry. As online shopping has become more prevalent, it is not as difficult to get those specialty products anymore. And, several independent stores I work with will ship products to you for a small fee.

Candy Scraps had grown as much as it could without major investments, including a new truck, trailer, displays and a storage unit. I just don’t have the funds needed to become one of the big fish traveling the convention world, and I was maxed out on space.

There aren’t enough events, with enough different people, to operate Candy Scraps as a full-time job. As much fun as I had in the spring and fall, I was essentially without income from December to February and all summer long. And, when I did go to a different crop every weekend, I was finding many of the same people. Since everyone is on a budget and can’t buy every weekend, sales plumeted and I was actually losing money.

That said, I got a “real” job, that pays less, but offers a steady paycheck. I enjoy it, but it leaves me even less time to work on my retail business. And, it’s hard to come home from work and work at home until it’s time for bed. I can say, if it wasn’t for my amazing husband, I probably wouldn’t have clean clothes to wear or decent food to eat half of the time.

I love to teach. I love to share new products and techniques. There is absolutely nothing more rewarding to me than seeing the lightbulb come on as someone understands what I am explaining. And, there is nothing more exciting than seeing them take what I have taught them and modify it or put their own spin on it. When my hours are spent ordering, pricing, making samples and paying taxes, I don’t have enough time to plan classes, which is what I really want to do.

It’s time for Matt & I to do some of the things we’d like to do. Candy Scraps has allowed us to travel, but not sight see. We would love to bike through Boyne Highlands or kayak in Traverse City, but our time there is always too busy. So, we want to step back and be able to enjoy life before we become too old to do so!

The two companies that are near and dear to my heart, Elizabeth Craft Designs and Mosaic Moments, often offer sales and low-cost shipping, so it is easy for you to get the products you want that way. And, several independent stores, including Bayview Scrappers in Traverse City, Paper & i in Marshall, and Scrappy Chic in Livonia carry some of these products, as well, and I am working on teaching at all of them. For those of you who enjoy shopping from me at crops, Bayview Scrappers will soon be carrying both companies on the road and I will be working with them teaching and doing demos at some of their events!

So, yes, it is sad to say goodbye to the retail side of my business. But, I am so excited to get back the few hundred square feet my store took up and to get away from the stress of researching and ordering products, filling orders, scheduling events and paying taxes. And, I’m looking forward to working on some of my own projects, rather than just samples, as well.

You will still see me … I’ll continue traveling around the state to teach. And I’ll still be at my favorite crops — I’ll just be cropping instead of running my booth.

And, maybe I’ll find time to post to my blog again — can you believe it’s been two months since my last post? WOW! Even I didn’t realize I had been that busy.

So, this isn’t goodbye … it’s just a new hello. With the stress of running a business on top of everything else gone, I am expecting the creativity to begin flowing again. Look for more classes to be scheduled soon!

Oh, and my last crop as a vendor will be this weekend at Camp Scrap at the Oakland County Fairgrounds. Stop by, stock up and say “hi”!

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I’m not Catholic, nor a religious person, but I couldn’t help but to be curious about the final resting place of Bishop Baraga in Marquette, Michigan. The Bishop, a Roman Catholic missionary to the Upper Peninsula, chose the site for St. Peter’s Cathedral way back in 1853.

Baraga taught the Ojibway Indians, while protecting their rights and learning from them at the same time. He even put together a dictionary of their language.

Baraga served throughout the UP, often traveling between communities on snow shoes during the harsh winters. He died in Marquette and is buried in St. Peter’s Cathedral, where a beautiful room with stained-glass windows show some of the works that he did.

To record our visit, and some of the beautiful details of the cathedral, I created this page. The one at the top is the left side, with a pocket to hold the pamphlet from the church. The page above is the right side. I used the arch die repeatedly across the two pages … repeating elements makes for an attractive layout, but it also helps the two pages blend into one layout.

Desperate for good coffee during a retreat, my friends and I drove into the neighboring town to a quaint, but busy, coffee shop. I had a pour over (I admit, I thought it was a new thing … lol) and it was the most amazing cup of coffee ever!

I was so in love, we went back the next day and I was able to create a page about my favorite treat. I used Medium Coffee Grid Paper and papers from Creative Memories. I also created a little pocket to hold tags that told of my journey. And, of course, a video that shows you to do it!

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This was a fun little page I made following an encounter with the ducks of the Fenton Mill Pond and Shiawassee River. I couldn’t believe they came running toward me — before I got some of the chicken’s meal worms out of the back seat — and ate right out of my hand. Feeding ducks is so much safer than feeding chickens … ducks have a soft bite and don’t try to eat your finger in the process.

I used the new Wave Border Set from Mosaic Moments to create the journaling spaces on the page. Here’s the video to show you how …

Matt and I traveled to Williamsburg, Virginia over Memorial Day weekend for a class with Tami Potter, creator of Mosaic Moments. Budget and time constraints kept the trip shorter than I imagined, but we still enjoyed three amazing days immersed in history.

One of the highlights of our trip was Magic Hour. Magic Hour is that time just before sunset when the lighting is soft and warm. It makes colors pop and everything look spectacular in photos. Kevin and Tami Potter took us on a little tour of some of Tami’s favorite gardens in the historic district and provided photo tips for us along the way.

Since Magic Hour occurs after most of the buildings in Williamsburg are closed, there were few people wandering about and our group practically had the city to ourselves! We went into places that we did not realize were open to the public, learned some tidbits of history from fellow members of our group, and got some amazing photos. It was one of those evenings I never wanted to end.

This is one layout I did showing just a few of the photos Matt and I took …. I wanted to keep the map and tips Tami gave us, so I included it in a pocket on the page. The layering on the pocket was inspired by Matt and the use of a totally different die set — the Postage Stamp Set. I was talking to him about the dies and bouncing ideas off of him for a video. He was thinking literally and thought I should create an envelope and put the stamp on it … I started thinking about how to make the flap and it evolved into this pocket …

I love how it turned out … and it is super easy to create. I made a video to show you how to do it …

It is easy to use cardstock and photos to create beautiful mosaic pages using the Mosaic Moments system. But, pattern paper can also be used to enhance your pages.

On this page, part of my sister’s trip to Africa, I had random pictures of animals she saw on the game drive. I didn’t really have enough for a page and they didn’t really go together. So I used pattern paper to fill in all of the spaces and create a cohesive design.

Here’s the coordinating page …

I love how the paper becomes part of the story, and not just an accent on a page. It ties all of the photos together, yet lets each one talk on its own.

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Fiona is a beautiful hippo born premature at the Cincinnati Zoo and I have been following her progress through social media since shortly after her birth. Fiona has required an enormous of amount of care, as any premature baby would, and there were many times she was almost lost. Several fundraisers have been created to help pay for Fiona’s care, including purchasing the Team Fiona shirt I am wearing in this page.

Happily, Fiona is doing well at nearly 400 pounds, has been reintroduced to her mother and is even occasionally on display for short periods of time. Once she is out and about all of the time, I plan to make the 6-hour drive each way to meet her in person.

For me, being on Fiona’s team was so important that I thought I should record some of her memories on a scrapbook page. And, since Fiona is so special to me, I went all out and cut the flowers from wool felt, adding another layer of texture and dimension to the page.